TESOL Training Center

FST Class
1 Instructor: Nematullah Fanus
 Remember:
We can not change our past
but changing the future is
possible…

1 Instructor: Nematullah Fanus

 Welcome
A big hand to yourselves…

1 Instructor: Nematullah Fanus

Do you have information about
international tests?

?
1 Instructor: Nematullah Fanus
Do you have information about
international tests?
TOEFL GRE
IELTS PTE
DOLLINGO …

1 Instructor: Nematullah Fanus

 What is TOEFL ???
 TOEFEL is an Acronym which stands for Test of
English as Foreign Language is a standardized
test to measure the English language ability of
non-native speakers wishing to enroll in English-
speaking universities.

1 Instructor: Nematullah Fanus

 What is TOEFL ???
 Accepted by 11000 universities
 190 countries
 Started in 1969
 Purpose ….
 50 times a year
 2.3 million
 4500 test center
 ETS
Educational Testing Service
Founded in 1947
Non-profit

1 Instructor: Nematullah Fanus

 Which skills are testing in TOEFL?

Grammar
Reading


 Reading
 Speaking Listening
 Writing
 Vocabulary Speaking
 Listening
Writing

1 Instructor: Nematullah Fanus

 Thank you
1 Instructor: Nematullah Fanus
Lecture No. 1

Tesol Training center

Reading Section
Overview of the Reading Section
 Overview
❖ The reading section is the first section of the TOEFL test.
❖ The reading section tests your ability to understand written
academic English.
❖ The section includes different types of reading passages that are
based on a variety of academic subjects.
❖ This section tests your ability to:
❖ Identify the main idea
❖ Understand the details
Reading Section

❖ Make inferences
❖ Understand the organizational structure of the passage
❖ Use context clues to determine the definitions of key words
❖ There are 2 reading passages
❖ Each passage is between 600- 750 words long
❖ There are 10 questions per passage
❖ Total section time: 36 minutes
 The Subjects of The passage
• Anthropology • Geology
• Archeology • Geography
• Art history • Literature
• Astronomy • Music
• Botany • Paleontology
• Biology • Photography
• Education • Psychology
• Engineering • Sociology
• Environmental science • Urban studies
• History
 Targeted Skills

❖ Understand basic academic vocabulary in context.

❖ Quickly scan a written passage and understand its main ideas and
supporting details.
❖ Understand how information is organized.
❖ Understand inferences, relationships, paraphrases and the purpose of a
passage.
❖ Answer questions within the given time.
Passage Types
There are three different types of passages in the reading section:
❖ Expository: Provides a general explanation of a topic
Ex: Types of Camouflage
❖ Argumentative: Provides a point of view and gives several
reasons to support it
Ex: Recuperation Theory vs. Circadian Theory of Sleep
❖ Historical: Focuses on past events
Ex: History of the Telescope
 Organizational Patterns
Each passage is arranged according to a particular
organizational style, which include:
❖ Compare and contrast: Discusses similarities and differences
between two or more things
❖ Cause and effect: Explains the causes and effects of something
❖ Problem and solution: Presents a theory and provides support for it
❖ Theory and support: Presents a problem and discusses solutions
❖ Classification: Describes two or three different categories of
something
Overview of the Question Types
Overview of the Question Types
Challenges and Solutions
I don’t know a lot of words
I often run out of time
 Thepassages are always complicated and
confusing
 There is too much information to remember
 None of the answer options feels right
Lecture No. 2

Tesol Training center

Reading Section
#1. Detail Questions
 Detail Question
❖ They ask you about three to five factual information
presented in a reading passage.
❖ They ask about important facts(facts that support the main
points of the reading)
❖ They are often based on supporting facts, definitions of
key terms, and the order of events described in the
passage.
Detail questions may be worded as follows:
❖ According to paragraph 1, what is true about X?
❖ According to paragraph 2, why was the discovery of X significant?
❖ What do X and Y have in common?
❖ In paragraph 4, what does the author say about X?
 The Correct Answer Options
 The correct answer contains factual information that was
presented in the reading.
 Correct answers can usually be found in one or two sentences in
the passage and typically contain reworded information from the
reading.
Wrong Answer Options
❖ Include information that contradicts the information given in
the reading.
❖ Use the exact wording from the reading but don't answer the
question.
❖ Include information that is not mentioned or supported by the
reading.
Lecture No. 3

Tesol Training center

Reading Section
#2. Referent Questions
Referent Question
❖ A referent question asks you to identify the word or phrase that
another word refers to.
❖ Personal pronouns are most commonly tested, though on occasion
referent questions may be based on relative, demonstrative, or
reflexive pronouns, in addition to other words.
❖ Referent questions will specify a pronoun in the passage by
highlighting it in gray.
❖ The answer options will be words or phrases from the passage.

Referent Questions may be worded as follow:

❖ The word X in paragraph 2 refers to. .
Correct Answer Options
The correct answer correctly identifies the referent
of the highlighted pronoun and will agree with the
highlighted pronoun in number, gender, or case.
Wrong Answer Options
❖ Do not agree with the highlighted pronoun in
number, gender, or case.
❖ Appear immediately before the highlighted word.
❖ Change the meaning of the sentence so that it
contradicts the facts presented in the passage.
Lecture No. 4

Tesol Training center

Reading Section
#3. Negative Fact Questions
Negative Fact Questions
❖ Ask you to recognize the answer option that is not true
according to the information in the reading passage.
❖ It may take you longer to answer negative fact questions
compared to other question types because you have to
confirm the accuracy of three details instead of just one.
❖ The question is usually based on one paragraph of the
reading, although in some cases, negative fact questions can
be based on multiple paragraphs.
❖ Expect to see no more than one negative fact question per reading
passage.
Negative Fact Questions are worded as follow
❖ Thepassage describes all of the following
EXCEPT:
❖ According to paragraph 2, which of the following
is NOT true about X?
❖ Inparagraph 3, which of the following is
LEAST likely?
The Correct Answer Options
❖ The correct answer contradicts information in the passage.
❖ Often, it uses key words or phrases from the text but changes a
key detail.
❖ In cases where the question is based on a list, the correct answer is
the item that is not included in that list.
Wrong Answer Options
❖ Rephrased information from the passage. An answer option
might rephrase a fact from the passage so that it looks like
it is incorrect.
❖ A shift from the active voice to the passive voice (or vice
versa).
Lecture No. 5

Tesol Training center

Reading Section
#4. Function Questions
Function Questions
❖ They ask you to identify the purpose of a word, phrase, or even an entire
paragraph in the passage.
❖ Sometimes they also ask you why the author organizes the information
in part of the passage in a certain way. For instance, you may have to
explain how one paragraph relates to another.
❖ Answers for this question type often start with to infinitives. For
example, to explain and to make a point about, etc…

Function Questions may be worded as follow:

❖ Why does the author mention X in paragraph 1?
❖ Why does the author give an example of X.
❖ How does the information in paragraph 2 relate to paragraph 1?
The Right Answer Options
❖ The correct answer correctly identifies the author's
motivations for mentioning a piece of information or for
organizing the information in a paragraph in a certain way.
❖ You must determine the function based on the clues in the
passage and your overall understanding of the passage.

The Wrong Answer Options

❖ Information that is mentioned in the passage but does not
explain the speaker's function.
❖ Ideas that are not mentioned in the passage at all.
❖ Relationships that contradict the facts presented in the reading.
Tips
❖ Read the answer options before you scan the reading.
Lecture No. 6

Tesol Training center

Reading Section
#5. Inference Questions
Inference Questions
❖ They ask you to draw a conclusion about an implied
idea based on the information presented in the
passage.
❖ The correct answer for an inference question will
never be stated outright. Rather, you will have to
connect information from the passage in order to make
an inference.
❖ There is typically no more than one inference question
per reading passage.
Inference Questions may be worded as follow

❖ In paragraph 1, the author implies . . .

❖ According to paragraph Z which of the following can be
inferred about X?
❖ Which of the following is implied about X in
paragraph 3?
❖ Based on the information in paragraph 4, what can be
inferred about X?
The right answer options
The correct answer for an inference question correctly
draws a conclusion that is supported by information in
the passage but will not be stated directly.

The wrong answer options

❖ Information that contradicts the main idea or details of the
passage.
❖ The exact wording from the passage. The correct answer will
usually reword information.
Lecture No. 7

Tesol Training center

Reading Section
#6. Vocabulary Questions
Vocabulary Questions
They ask you to choose the definition that best describes
how highlighted word or phrase is used in the passage.
❖ The vocabulary you are tested on may have multiple
meanings. You must choose the definition that best
describes how the word or phrase is used in the
passage.
❖ There are typically two to four vocabulary questions
per reading passage.
Vocabulary Questions may be worded as follow:

❖ The word X in the passage is closest in meaning

to . . .
❖ The phrase X in the passage is closest in
meaning to . . .
The right answer options
❖ The correct answer can replace the highlighted word or phrase
without changing the meaning of the sentence or contradicting
the main idea of the passage.
❖ The correct answer option is often a synonym of the
highlighted word.

The wrong answer options

❖ Similar constructions as the highlighted word, such as the
words slather and gather.
❖ The opposite meaning of another answer option.
❖ The correct definition of the word but for a different usage.
Lecture No. 8

Tesol Training center

Reading Section
#7. Sentence Summary Questions
Sentence Summary Questions
They ask you to choose the answer option that provides
the best summary of a highlighted sentence from a
passage.
❖ The highlighted sentence that the question is based on
is typically two to four lines long.

Sentence Summary Questions may be worded as follow:

Which of the following best expresses the essential
information in the highlighted sentence? Incorrect answer
options change the meaning in important ways or leave out
essential information.
The right answer options
❖ The correct answer contains all the essential or important
information from the original sentence.
❖ The correct answer typically uses synonyms and changes the
construction of the original sentence.

The wrong answer options

❖ Leave out important ideas from the highlighted sentence.
❖ Contradict the main ideas and facts from the passage by
changing cause and effect relationships or misstating the
frequency of an event.
❖ Include the exact wording and sentence constructions from
the original highlighted sentence.
Lecture No. 9

Tesol Training center

Reading Section
#8. Passage Summary Questions
Passage Summary Questions
❖ A passage summary question presents you with a
brief overview of the main idea of the passage and
six answer options.
❖ You will have to choose the three answer options
that best summarizes the whole passage.

Sentence Summary Questions may be

worded as next page:
The right answer options
❖ The correct answer will reflect the main ideas of the passage.
❖ By reading the introductory sentence and the three correct
sentences, a reader who is unfamiliar with the passage should
be able to understand what the passage is about.

The wrong answer options

❖ Information that is mentioned in the passage but is not one of
the main ideas of the passage.
❖ Ideas that are not mentioned in the passage at all.
❖ Information that contradicts the facts presented in the
passage.
Tips
❖ Look for topic sentences for each paragraph in
the passage.
❖ Eliminate answer options that include only
minor details.
❖ Watchout for answer options that include
information that wasn't mentioned in the passage.
❖ Becareful with answers that contradict the facts
from the passage.
Lecture No. 10

Tesol Training center

Reading Section
#9. Add Text Questions
Add Text Questions
An add text question asks you to determine where a
given sentence will best fit in a passage.
❖ You will have a choice of four places marked with
black squares where you can insert the sentence in the
passage.
❖ The black squares will typically appear in the same
paragraph. However, they will not always appear in
consecutive sentences.
Add Text Questions may be worded as
follow:
Look at the four squares a in paragraph 1 that indicate
where the following sentence could be added to the
passage.
“As a result, scientists disagree about the origins of
X.
Where would the sentence best fit?
The right answer option
❖ The correct answer for an add text question will make
sense in the context of the paragraph.
❖ The ideas will flow logically between the sentences that
precede and follow the given sentence.

The wrong answer option

❖ Don't agree with the grammatical forms in the sentences that
come before and after the given sentence.
❖ Don't follow the logical progression of ideas in the paragraph.
Tesol Training center

Thank You!

1 Instructor: Nematullah Fanus